Collegian March 20, 1986 Reader o Student responds to evangelist on campus Dear Editor, Brother Jed Smock is a highly opi nionated, charismatic speaker who came to our cam pus to get attention and excite us. One way he effectively accomplished this was by posing insulting, off the wall arguments. All the arguments stated were based on opinion and belief— not fact He even went so far as to contradict himself numerous times just for the sake of argument. The other tool Brother Smock used was to center his arguments around people who were loud and angered. He payed little attention to calmer, more rational rebutals. I believe Brother Smock's credability is highly questionable and that beconiing infuriated by his comments is ridiculous. The whole event reminded me of a show presented by a traveling medecine man from the old West selling a cure-all drug. The man was very entertaining. Many questions arose as to whether events such as this should be allowed on campus. To examine this issue, three areas the good Brother spoke in should be addressed; outside the Reed Building, on the radio (WBCR), and in the Gorge cafeteria. When Jed Smock spoke outside, he was loud and energetic. People who wanted to watch the show stayed and blended into the crowd. Those who did not wish to watch walked past. No one was forced to stay. The only problem I saw was that .the students living in Perry were inconvenienced because his voice carried to the dorm. To remedy this, the speaker could have been moved to a more isolated position such as the Reed parking lot. Brother Smock was also interviewed on the radio. I see no problem with this because he was invited by the radio club. The last place Jed Smock talked was in the Gorge cafeteria. I do not believe he should have been allow ed in there for many reasons. First, to my understan- . 111 - the Penn State-Behrend Collegian Member of The Press Association - Editor Paula Maus , Feature Editor Jack Homer Business Manager Barb Cavano Sports Editor Rob Roth Photo Coordinators ' . Jim Cooper Ad Managers Dan King Sue Ratten bury Barb Golden Adviser Robert Di N icola Staff Andy Seneta Barrett Parker Patrick Schlipf Matthew J. Sullivan • Julie Karasinski Greg Rathbun Chip SusolThomas Miley Charles Homyak Karen Koper Mailing Address - Behrend Collegian, Station Road, Erie, PA 16563 REPRESENTED FOR NATIONAL ADVERTISING BY Office located in Reed Union Building CASS Student Advertising, Incorporated Office Hours - 9 a.m.- 5 p.m.; Monday through Friday . 1633 West Central St. Phone: 898-6221 Evanston, Illinois 60201 Opinions expressed by the editors and staff of the Penn State-Behrend Collegian are not necessarily those of the University Administration, faculty, or the student body. -11 REED BUILDING EXTENDS WEEKEND HOURS I On an experimental basis the Reed Union Building will - extend its weekend hours for all Behrend students: If students take advantage of these optimal study hours during the. remainder of Spring 'B6 they will become permanent. Clip and save this schedule for easy reference. -"neon: ding, he was never invited in. Second, he disrupted the whole cafeteria. The cafeteria is used for study ing and socializing. A distraction of this magnitude should not be tolerated. Finally, classrooms are available for guest speakers. Common areas should not be abused. Another major problem that arose was that a Behrend College student was directly called a "whore". Even though she was partly at fault for prolonging the argument, defamation of character cannot be tolerated. We came to college to receive and education, not to be slandered. If events such as this occur in the future, the ad ministration should take one of two actions. First, the College should have an area designated for this purpose. Second, the groups should be screened for the content of their presentation by a panel compris ed of college students and faculty. If a group is re jected, it should be made available to campus clubs. This way, we students have a voice in what we are -subjected to. Overall, I found the event disruptive. No group or individual should be allowed to force its opinions on the students of this campus. I believe in the right to assemble and the freedom of speech so long as the right and freedom of others is not compromised. Sincerely, Larry Witte Larry, Thanks for voicing your opinion I, too, found this influx of loud-mouthed evangelists disturbing. But I didn't waste my time listening, so I won't waste my time writing about it. However, it is important to recognize that the Col lege had nothing to do with these frenzied iconoclasts. They blew in on their own. pm BOOKSTORE SAT. 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. WINTERGREEN GORGE CAFETERIA SAT. 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. LIBRARY FRI. till 8 p.m., SAT 9 a.m.-8 p.m., SUN Noon - 10 p.m_ BACK ROOM SAT & SUN 1 p.m. - 11 p.m RUB DESK FRI 8 a.m. -11 p.m., SAT & SUN 1 p.m. -11 p.m. opinion Donald Kaul Grandad would have found a kindred spirit My mother always taught me to feel sorry for those less fortunate than myself. "If it doesn't cost anything, and you never know Who's Watching," she would say. In that spirit, I feel sorry for John McEnroe, the tennis player. At first glance you would think that McEnroe was one of those people who has it made. He makes a zillion dollars a year for running around in his underwear and screaming at helpless linepersons. He's engaged to Tatum O'Neal who, even for a movie star, is a fox. He's about to become a father. He lives in Johnny Carson's old place in Malibu and hangs around with the rich and famous. He is healthy. What more could a man want? Peace. McEnroe has always attracted a certain amount of attention because of the on-court imitations of the south end of a horse headed north. In the past year, however, since he has taken up with Ms. O'Neal, the at tention has increased geometrically. He has made the jump from Sports Illustrated to People magazine. He has, in effect, become tennis' first rock star. And, in the process, his tennis game has disappeared. Once the greatest player in the world, at age 27 he finds himself being beaten by kids whose names he barely knows. He not only doesn't win tour naments,,he gets knocked out early. He seems to think it has something to do with the distraction of his relationship with Ms. O'Neal, so he has taken a couple of months off from the professional tennis tour, to get himself together. "I felt that my tennis was really there but that I needed to catch up on my life," he said. "...A relationship is a job, a full-time job. So I have two full-time jobs now." Doesn't that tear your heart out? Well, it does mine. Of course, I have a good deal of empathy for the situation because the very same thing happened to my Ukranian granofather, Jacob Kowalczuk, long before I was born, when he was a recent arrival here. It's a family story that we tell each other at holidays. One day my grandfather came home from his job at the steel mill and said to my grandmother, who was raising three kids and working on the side as a dishwasher in a Chinese restaurant: "Francis, I don't think I'm going back to the mill anymore." "What do you mean, you're not going back to the mill?" "What I said. I think I'll stay home for awhile." "They fired you?" "No, but I got to thinking, I get up early in the morning, I work all day, I come home, I eat, I go to bed. Where's the fun? I need to catch up on my life." "Oh my God, they fired you; that's it isn't it? They fired you and you're ashamed to tell me." At that point she began to emit the piercing wail that made her a particular favorite at funerals. "Calm down," my grandfather said. "It's not that. It's only that I don't feel I can do justice to the blast furnace and to be a good husband and father at the same time. It's like having two full-time jobs. I need to take some time off and get in touch with my feelings." "Oh, I get it, it's a joke. You stopped on .the way home from work, had a couple of beers, and decided to have some fun with your wife. Well, it worked, I admit it; you had me going there for a while. I really thought you'd been fired." "I kept saying I hadn't been, fired." "I know, but when you kept talking crazy about not going back to the mill, I figured... Jacob, you are going back to the mill, aren't you?" "I don't think so, Francis. I was saying to Stashu Lempke today while we were shoveling coal, 'There's got to be more to life than this."' "But how will we live? What will become of us?" "We'll live off our savings." "I spent our savings last week on a pair of shoes for Alex." "That's OK, something will turn up." in McEnroe see Kaul page 9
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